By Anthony Panciocco
The New Orleans Saints trailed 20-17 late in the fourth quarter of last week’s matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. On third down at the 49er 35-yard line, linebacker Ahmad Brooks blew past his blocker and laid a vicious hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees, leaving the veteran quarterback’s chin bloody and forcing a fumble that was quickly recovered by the 49ers.
While San Francisco celebrated the opportunity to run the clock down and win the game, a little yellow flag on the ground was about to wake up a controversy. The referees called roughing the passer on the play, giving the Saints possession of the ball and a first down. They went on to tie the game on that drive and win the game with Garrett Hartley connecting on both field goals later in the quarter.
Rule 12, Article 13 of the NFL rulebook states that you cannot lead with your helmet when tackling an opponent, and you may not target a quarterback’s head or neck. You cannot hit them in the knees, and you cannot hit them once they have released the ball or drive them to the ground on a tackle.
This leaves a small window for how and when you can tackle a quarterback, but the replay on the Brooks hit shows him leading with his shoulder and hitting Brees’ upper shoulder, just under his neck where it would have been an illegal hit. Brees ducked after first contact, causing Brooks’ arm to hit his neck as Brees went to the ground. Brooks did not drive him to the ground after the hit, instead staying upright to try and recover the fumble he had just forced.
The outcry of support for Brooks was swift and strong. On the Postgame show, retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis made a show by taking out his credit card and vowing to pay for half of whatever fine was going to be assessed. Former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi made a similar promise, offering to help pay the fine due to the injustice of the call.
The referees stood by the call after the game and the next day, the NFL released a statement lending support to the referees that made the call. Wednesday afternoon, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the NFL fined Brooks $15,750 for the hit. Brooks has already said he will pay the fine himself, refusing the monetary support of Lewis and Bruschi.
While this over-regulation of the rules tears at the fabric of the game we know and love, it is important to remember the reason that the rules are there in the first place. Before we go ahead and let players do whatever they want, we need to take a look at the other side of the coin. The rules are not there just because the NFL is afraid of what might happen to their best players. History, especially recent history, shows that without some kind of regulation to the types of hits that are allowed, some players and teams will take advantage of the lack of rules to target opposing players in the hopes of injuring them.
Star players and quarterbacks in particular are targeted by dirty players looking to give their team an edge. We can look back upon Bountygate, the infamous controversy surrounding a program implemented by the New Orleans Saints where they paid players extra for targeting the heads of other players and sometimes injuring them, as a prime example of this immoral strategy.
This incident in particular showed a darker side of the game, one that put the focus more on winning by playing dirtier than the other team instead of playing better football. These kind of tactics undermine the game just as much as over-regulation of the personal foul rules does, and they are what caused the implementation of such rules in the first place.
These rules safeguard against more than just targeting quarterbacks; they protect other players as well.
There are some individual players in the league, such as Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather, that take pride in knocking other players out of games. Earlier in the game, after being fined for taking cheap shots at defenseless opponents, Meriweather said, “To be honest, you’ve got to go low. You’ve got to end people’s careers.”
Just a couple of weeks later, Meriweather was suspended for one game and fined $75,000 for several helmet-to-helmet collisions with Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall. After the game, Meriweather was heard laughing in the locker room and mocking his inevitable fine in front of the media.
This is what the NFL is trying to protect against: players who want to make illegal hits and their intimidation factor a calling card for their style of play.
If the NFL overprotects its players, particularly quarterbacks, it disrupts the flow of the game and makes defensive players tentative to play as hard as they should be able to. If the NFL lets its players run rampant, however, it could find some of the star players who headline its most exciting matchups missing due to injury.
The rules need to be clear and precise. Giving the refs the ability to review personal fouls in important situations, similar to what the NBA does with Flagrant 1 and Flagrant 2 fouls, would also be a step in the right direction.
If a touchdown is important enough to review, why shouldn’t a play regarding player safety be important enough to review? There are not many pivotal personal fouls per game, so it would not slow the game down much, and with the number of TV timeouts already in games, there would not be much of a difference in game time.
As with anything in sports, there needs to be a balance. A balance between the aggressive nature of the game and ensuring player safety. Once the NFL finds this balance, fans, players, coaches and franchises will be able to move past these calls and focus on the game they love.